Wood pellet-burning barbecues are popular for outdoor cooking, particularly at homes and in household situations. Conventional wood pellet-burning barbecues, of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,684, employ a motor-driven auger to provide a measured feed of wood pellets into a combustion region where the pellets are burned to provide heat and smoke to cook food.
An aspect of such conventional wood pellet-burning barbecues is that the heat generated for larger cooking areas can be limited. While some household barbecues can be large enough to pose such a problem, the issue can become significant in the context of the requirements of commercial cooking. Commercial cooking can require very large cooking areas to serve a larger clientele, and can also require higher cooking heat to achieve desired cooking results. Moreover, igniter systems in conventional wood pellet-burning barbecues degrade quickly due to their interaction with the wood pellets. As a result, there is a need to provide improved heat generation in some pellet burning barbecues.
The foregoing and other features of the inventive concept will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.